Marijuana and heroin nothing alike

Matt Gaetz, a conservative freshman congressman from Florida’s Panhandle, deserves credit for going where few Republicans dare.

Gaetz has filed legislation to remove cannabis — the scientific and more respectable name for marijuana — from Schedule 1 status, a category reserved for drugs with no accepted medical value, like heroin and LSD.

Instead, he proposes cannabis be given Schedule 3 status under the Controlled Substances Act. This category covers drugs whose benefits can be abused, like anabolic steroids and certain depressants.

With 28 states and the District of Columbia having legalized medical marijuana, Gaetz says research is needed on its potential benefits and possible harmful effects. And a status change would make research more possible.

“Right now it is functionally illegal to research a substance that is being prescribed as medicine in nearly 30 states,” he told the Pensacola website SandsPaper.com. “That’s the height of stupidity. We shouldn’t be afraid of research. … People are using medical cannabis. Don’t we want to know whether or not it’s working?”

Before November, Gaetz, the son of former Florida Senate President Don Gaetz, served in the Florida House and used his considerable sway to push gun bills, tax cuts and a conservative agenda.

But he also sponsored bills that opened the door to medical marijuana in Florida. The first allows a non-euphoric strain — called Charlotte’s Web — to be prescribed to children who suffer intractable seizures. The second allows near-death patients to use non-smokable marijuana of all strengths and doses.

Now in Congress, the Fort Walton Beach lawyer is eyeing federal policy that threatens the implementation of those laws, policy that dates back to 1971 and President Richard Nixon’s failed War on Drugs.

“To classify marijuana with heroin and LSD continues a generational sequence of lying by the federal government to the American people. And those lies have led to overly punitive criminal penalties,” Gaetz told the Pensacola website.

“Our policies on marijuana for the last generation have done irreparable harm. We can’t undo the past, but we can chart a better course for the future if we’re simply willing to avail ourselves of the benefits of modern research.”

There’s much to like about Gaetz’s pragmatic approach for incremental change, starting with high-end science. Who can argue with that?

Before insisting that marijuana isn’t safe or effective, shouldn’t the federal Drug Enforcement Administration allow scientists to more easily study whether it’s safe and effective?

Yet in August, the law enforcement agency doubled down on marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, a category that imposes signicant restrictions on researchers.

And in March, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who oversees the DEA under the Justice Department, said he believed “medical marijuana has been hyped, maybe too much.”

But absent scientific facts, how would he know?

Anecdotal evidence and independent studies suggest marijuana provides relief for people suffering from chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, multiple sclerosis and the nausea that comes from chemotherapy.

Recent studies also suggest access to medical marijuana clinics can reduce opioid deaths and prescription painkiller abuse.

And despite what ’60s-era parents were told, teenagers who smoke marijuana today are not likely to inject heroin tomorrow.

“The majority of people who use marijuana do not go on to use other, harder substances,” the National Institution on Drug Abuse reports.

A linkage does exist between marijuana and abusing other substances, like nicotine and alcohol. And people who abuse harder drugs often started smoking marijuana early in life.

“An alternative to the gateway-drug hypothesis is that people who are more vulnerable to drug-taking are simply more likely to start with readily available substances such as marijuana, tobacco, or alcohol,” the agency says.

Its conclusion? “Further research is needed to explore this question.” Hear, hear! Let us make decisions based on research, not beliefs.

Rescheduling marijuana also would let today’s clinics work with banks and credit card companies, which now resist their business for fear of prosecution for facilitating illegal drug transactions.

Because of the conflicts between federal and state laws, cannabis clinics run mostly as “cash only” businesses, a condition that poses public safety risks.

Before insisting that marijuana isn’t safe or effective, shouldn’t the federal Drug Enforcement Administration allow scientists to more easily study whether it’s safe and effective?

Gaetz is a realist. He knows his bill — co-sponsored by Democratic Rep. Darren Soto of Kissimmee — has a long way to go before it’s “heard in committee, let alone making it to the floor for a vote.”

“Far too many Republicans have reflexive opposition to cannabis reform of any kind,” he told the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board.

But in a GOP-controlled Congress, Gaetz’s bill stands a better chance than a Democratic bill that would decriminalize and regulate marijuana, like alcohol.

And you’ve got to believe it stands a better chance than a bipartisan bill that calls for excluding cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and letting states decide whether to legalize it.

During his campaign, President Donald Trump took varying positions on marijuana. In June 2015, he said legalizing recreational use was “bad” and he felt “strongly about it,” according to CNN. But later that year, he said: “In terms of marijuana and legalization, I think that should be a state issue, state-by-state.”

As for medical marijuana, the president told Fox News host Bill O’Reilly he supports it “100 percent,” according to CNN. “I know people that have serious problems and … it really does help them.”

It’s also worth noting that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week introduced legislation to legalize recreational marijuana in his country. And it’s expected to pass.

Given the trend lines, it’s only a matter of time before our country treats marijuana like alcohol. But now isn’t the time.

Now is the time, however, to recognize that marijuana no longer belongs in the same category as heroin.

Republicans should listen to one of their own and give Gaetz’s common-sense bill the consideration it deserves.